Crossed Paths
by Mr Dolarhyde
Summary: An avid fan goes in search of the good doctor.


Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the character Hannibal Lecter, or any others mentioned in this fiction, I have merely borrowed them to use in my fiction, enjoy.  
  
  
  
Crossed Paths  
  
  
  
Joseph Craven is a lucky man, well that's what people will tell you. You may very well believe them too when you find out what has happened to him. Joseph Craven, a mild mannered reporter (all reporters seem to be mild mannered), won $5 million with a lottery ticket. Most people will pay of bills then go on a holiday, Joseph is going straight on a holiday, its been his plan for a long time. Howver his plans may shock and apall sole, while others would be happy to go along for the ride.  
  
  
  
Working at a high profile newspaper exposes you to a lot of interesting stories, but none captured his attention more than the exploits of one Dr, Hannibal Lecter. The cunning, genius and cannibalistic tendencies have endeared the 'good' doctor to Josephs imagination. The newspaper he works at did the expected amount of coverage on Hannibals escape, but not as much as the National Tattler. Everyday of its publication Joeseph would have to go to the nearest supermarket or newstand to get a copy. The newspaper Joseph worked at would have nothing to do with the Tattler, they considered it filth and called it the 'Crappler', regardless of the fact that it bore no resemblance to the original name and was far from being witty, but that is what it is full of. That is excluding the articles on Hannibal though, which was all that Joseph cared to read.  
  
  
  
Whilst reading the articles, Joseph became entralled by Lecter, but once paused to reflect on why he has such a liking for the doctor. Joseph was only able to put it down to one thing, which may not be much of an answer; there was an undescibable prescence that eminated from Dr. Lecter, that even managed to project itself from a newspaper article. And from this line of thinking Joseph devised a dream for himself, he would someday attempt to meet Dr. Hannibal Lecter.  
  
On the day of Josephs winning lottery ticket he had lost another auction on ebay to someone called 'Jezebel', who was apparently male. This would usually dampen his day, losing another auction to Jezebel, who seemed to but everything that was related to Lecter, but today was different. Joseph now had enough money to buy anything of ebay, but he was using the internet for different reasons today. Joseph was in need of more information on Lecter, one does not walk into the darkness without a light, and so he put in a search for that very name. Joseph was lucky enough to come across a site that was a library of information.  
  
  
  
The time had come for Joseph to pack his bags for his journey, he came to the conclusion that Hannibal was in Florence, Italy. There was no truth behind his guesstamation, but Florence most likely appealed to Dr, Lecters tastes more than any other city Joseph knew. Josephs ticket was for first class, naturally he wanted to try it out now he had the money, and thoroughly enjoyed the flight. Joseph had told the newspaper that he was going sightseing, so they gave him some time off. In truth Joseph was going sightseing, but it was more of a manhunt. A manhunt into the new world.  
  
  
  
Mr. Craven was due to stay in Florence for two weeks, more time than he really needed. Joseph gave himself a lot of tile so he could enjoy himself, realising that his chances of finding Lecter were slim to none and the fact he may not even be in Florence. On his last night of 'sightseing' (seing all but what he intended to see) Joseph decided to go to the Forte di Belvedere to see the Atrocious Torture Instruments show. There was no real excitement into seing the show, something just lured him to see the show. The show did not prove to be as upsetting as Joseph ahd thought, at times it proved to be interesting. However, one particular exhibit caught his eye, not so much the exhibit, but the man standing behind the velvet ropes. He was sleek and slender and stood there watching the crowd go by. His gaze passed over gradually and eventually set themselves upon Josephs, and gave a wry little smile, possibly noticing the dialation of Josephs eyes as he realised who he was staring at. It felt like his world was falling apart, joseph could not believe that he had actually found the man he was searching for. Although his appearance was a little different, Joseph was almost certain that he was looking at Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The sudden rush of glee that worked its way into Josephs mind was gone just as quick as he found himself walking away. His mind was telling his body to jump the velvet rope and meet Lecter, but his body told his mind it was getting the hell out of there, and probably for the best.  
  
  
  
Joseph stepped out of the exit of the Forte di Belvedere to the night being bathed by a small drizzle. Joseph waited at the exit, more in hope than in anticipation becuase he could not be sure his eyes were not decieving him, he may not have seen a man at all, it could have even been a dummy in the exhibit. Then as quickly as the thoughts running through his mind, the man walked out of the Forte di Belvedere in a rush. Joseph thought he may be late for something and did not want to disturbe him, but he did not travel thousands of miles to miss his oppurtunity. Joseph tried to match the brisk walk of the Lecteresque man, but was having difficulty dodging the traffic on the footpath, similar to the man dodging traffic on the road. The appearance of the man was quite comical to Joseph, the way the amns head stuck out of his collar made him look like a turtle, his facial features certainly did not help the matter. The incident that followed was completly void of humour though. The sudden thought that Josephs eyes were not following the Lecteresque man anymore brought on a rush of panic, Josephs eyes quickly scanned the crowd and found him. It seemed that the turtle man was crossing paths with Lecteresque, and proved to be true when they bumped into each other. At first it seemed that Lecteresque had grabbed turtle man in the nether regions, 'copped a feel', so to speak. But that did not prove to be true. The turtle man had a smug look on his face, but it was turning very pale as he spoke to the man that had appeared by his side almost immediately, and looked down. The turtle mans face now had some colour returned to it, but red was not usually considered to be a good colour on ones face. The blood was spurting out of a wound in his leg, the incision had hit an artery, an insicion was what it had to be called with the accuracy in which the knife entered the body of the turtle man. And as the blood drained out of the body of the turtle man he ceased to be, and so did the Lecteresque man, for he was not Lecteresque, but indeed was Hannibal Lecter. There was no doubt in Josephs mind about that now.  
  
  
  
Joseph did not travel back home the next day, he had to extend his holiday, not wanting to end it on a sour note, or have the images of the turtle mans pale face red with blood plaguing his dreams on the flight home. The images were awful and vivid, waking him several times as he tried to sleep on the night of its occurance. However, his trip did not need to be extended much longer than a few days as the images of the turtle man seemed to slip away from his sub concious, and were now occuring rather sporadically anyway. By the time Joseph decided to end his trip he had made it all the way to France without looking back, but now found it was time to leave. Joseph once again secured a first class seat. On boarding the plane he caught a glimpse of his old life. Only flying a few times earlier joseph had experienced economy seats. Joseph now gazed upon the weary travellers who had only two more inches than a slave on the middle passage. Most of them wore a smiley face badge with CAN AM TOURS printed over it in big red letters. Taking in what he saw, parchance staring a little too long, he took in a site that he would never forget. It was something that appeared completely out of place. That something was actually a someone, and that someone gave Joseph a familiar wry smile, followed by a wink. 


End file.
